Drinking fountain



July 4, 1933.

H. T. M ANULTY DRINKING FOUNTAIN Filed May 29, 1931 torneys TM AnU/Ziylnvenior fienTg /y shown Patented July 4, 1933 UNIT HENRY T. MCANULTY,OF LAKE FALLS, MINNESOTA DRINKING Application filed May 29,

My invention has for its object to provide an improved drinkingfountain, especially well adapted for use in village and country schoolsor other places where water under pressure is not ordinarily available;and to this end my invention consists of the novel devices andcombinations of devices hereinafter described and pointed out in theclaim.

My invention in its preferred form is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, wherein like reference notations refer to like parts throughoutthe several views.

In said drawing Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improveddrinkingfountain;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; i

F 3 is a top or plan view of the parts in Figs. 1 and 2, with the tankcover removed, and

Fig. 4 is detail in perspective showing the relations of the dischargehopper, the elevating bucket and the upright or vertically disposedcaging guide of said bucket with the bucket shown in its most elevatedposition.

The numeral 5 represents any one of four legs disposed at the corners ofa rectangle and connected together by suitable braces 6 so as to form arectangular supporting base for the storage tank 8. -The said storagetank 8 is of cylindrical form and the supporting base is provided with acircular band 7 rigidly secured to the upper ends of the legs 5 and ofslightly larger diameter than the tank 8, thereby permitting the lowerend. of the tank 8 to telescope within the band 7 and rest on inturnedflanges of the feet 5 of the supportin base. The tank 8 is thereforereadily removable from the supporting base whenever desired. The tank isprovided with a removable cover 9. The numeral 10 represents asupporting bracket fixed to one pair of the legs 5 and projectingoutward therefrom into proper position for supporting a fountain bowllloas clearly shown in Figs. 1 and'2 of the drawing. The numeral 12represents a discharge hopper located within the tank 8 with its upperend located only a short distance below the upper end of the tank andhaving its lower end connected by a pipe 13 to the fountain bowl 11,

FOUNTAIN 1931. Serial No. 540,904.

as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The numeral ll represents abucket-loading well which extends below the main or body portion of thebottom of the tank ,8 and is shown as of rectangular form in cross section of the proper size to receive the water elevating valved bucket 15.The numeral 16 represents a caging guide for the said water bucket 15,which guide is disposed in an upright or vertical position and extendson three sides above the top of the discharge hopper 12 and has one ofits walls abutting the inner wall of said discharge hopper 12. Thebucket 15 is cut away on that side thereof facing t the hopper 12 toafford an outflow opening 15a for the water when the bucket is in itsuppermost position, as clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing; and thatparticular side of the caging guide 16 directly abutting the a V hopper12 is cut away in that part thereof which projects above the hopper 12to'afford a passage 16a for the water coming from the bucket through theside opening 15a thereof and thus allowing the water from the bucket vto discharge into the top of the hopper 12. The numeral 17 represents abell crank shaped spider bracket the long arm of which is formed of atube, the outer end of which extends through and is secured to the wallof the tank 8. The short arm of the spider so 17 has a bifurcated footwhich abuts and rests on the upper end of the outer wall of the cagingguide 16, as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. Thesaid spider 17 haslittle pulley or sheave 18 at its elbow over which passes a suitableflexible connection such as a light cable or strong cord 19 the lowerend of which is attached to the bail of the bucket 15, as clearly shownin 2 and 4 of the drawing. The upper end of this connection 19 passesthrough the tubular arm of the spider 17 and thence over another guidepulley 20 supported by bracket 21 fixed to the tank 8, as shown in Fig.2 of the drawing. The projecting end of said connection 19 is providedwith a handle 22, by which the operator can raise the load-ed bucketfrom its filling position to its discharging position at will.

The upright caging guide 16 for the bucket 15 has two of its walls cutaway to afford openings 16?) which are in constant communication withthe water within the tank 8 when the device is in working condition. Thebucket 15 has in its bot-tom a check valve 15b.

The lower end of the delivery pipe 123 of the hopper 12 is curved andits outer end projects into the fountain bowl 11 so that the water willbe delivered in a jet and the rim of the bowl 11 at the back of the bowlis extended upward and inward on a curved line as a guard to prevent theperson using the fountain from getting his head too low in the bowl.

The construction and disposition of the parts being as above described,the operation is probably obvious from the above stated specifications.However, the operation may be briefly summarized as follows:

Assuming the tank 8 to have been filled to the desired extent, withdrinking water, the elevating bucket will stand in its lowermostposition under the action of gravity, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing.In this position the bucket will be loaded with water and whenever anyperson desires to have a drink, all he needs to do is to take hold ofthe handle 22 of the flexible connection 19 and pull downward thereonuntil the bucket. is d "awn upward to its limit or into the positionshown in Fig. 4; of the drawing. As soon as this occurs the water willflow out of the bucket into the mouth or open upper end of the hopper 12and the body of this hopper is at such an elevation above the fountainbowl 11 that the pressure under the action of gravity on the waterwithin the hopper 12 and pipe 13 will be sufficient to discharge thewater in a jet from the lower end of said pipe 13 at the fountain bowl11, where it can be readily reached by the person desiring the drink ofwater. It should be carefully noted that the discharge of the water fromthe elevating bucket into the hopper 12 is secured without any tiltingaction of the bucket. The bucket simply a straight up and down slidingmotion, and this is the radical feature of my improvement over the priorart. In all prior devices for a similar purpose so far as known tome thebucket has always been given a tilting action to bring it intodischarging position. This has added complications in structure withgreatly increased wear and tear on the parts, or otherwise stated, myimprovement has effected a great simplification in the structure therebyreducing the first cost of the device and increasing the endurance ofthe device.

Attention is called to the fact that all the parts located within thetank 8 are readily detachable from each other and removable from thesaid tank. For example, the discharge pipe 13 of the hopper 12 is madein two sections adapted to be united by a union 13a and thereforeseparable at will. The spider 17 is clamped to the wall of the tank 8 bynuts 17a and 17 b and therefore can be readily removed. The caging guide16 is provided at its upper end with the hook 160, which is adapted forengagement with the upper edge of the hopper 12, and at its lower end isslidably engaged with the interior surface of the loading well 14, and,therefore, can be readily lifted out of the tank. Then the caging guidehas been removed, access may be had to the lower portion of the interiorof the tank for opening the union 13a. The hopper 12 is provided with anoffset tongue 12a adapted to engage with a cross bar 12?) soldered tothe wall of the tank 8, and therefore the hopper can be readily liftedout from the tank when the union between the sections of the pipe 13 hasbeen opened up.

It should be further noted that in practice the tank 8 and all the partslocated therein are made of some non-corrosive metal. The same remarkapplies to the fountain bowl.

The device is therefore an extremely sanitary I one for the useintended.

It will of course be understood that more or less of the details couldbe changed without departing from the spirit of my invention hereindisclosed and claimed.

lVhat I claim is:

In a liquid dispenser, the combination with a storage tank and anoutside discharge means, of a hopper, the outlet of said hopper beingconnected to said outside discharge means, a non-tilting elevatingbucket having a free opening in one side thereof, a vertically disposedcaging guide for said bucket located within said tank adjacent to saidhopper, one side of said caging guide being i111- perforate andextending to the upper edge of said hopper, the remaining three sides ofsaid caging guide extending above the upper edge of said hopper, theopen side of said bucket facing the imperforate side of said cagingguide and disposed in such proximity to said imperforate side that theimperforate side of said caging guide forms a closure for the open sideof said bucket at all times except when said bucket is raised to itsextreme uppermost position above said imperforate side, and handoperating means for elevating said bucket.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

HENRY T. MGANULTY.

, ILLI

